Pouring Rain
by genieforyourworld
Summary: Sasuke became a broken man with nothing to do but think. Sakura was the girl he had wanted to protect. And maybe that was meant to be all. /SasuSaku/


**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the song**

* * *

_I don't mind spending __**everyday  
**__Out on your corner in the __pouring rain  
_…  
_Please don't try so hard to say __**goodbye**_

* * *

_pouring __**rain**_

* * *

_It had to be done, _he told himself.

Over the years, if anything were to somehow trigger those locked away memories, old promises, nostalgic dreams or broken smiles, that one thought would force his mind to regain focus on the present - the future.

However that future eventually became the past.

...

Sasuke became a broken man.

A man with no future. No goals. No dreams. Nothing.

_Emptiness_.

Not that there had been much since _that night_.

Although there had been a time, although it had hardly been even a year.

But, looking back he realised something (because he had nothing to do but think).

_They (what were their names again?) had been the best days of his life. _

...

Hawk had long since disbanded.

They came to realise after a while that Sasuke had grown tired of bloodshed and murder and revenge and each went on his or her own way because they could gain nothing more from him.

His head, as well as his eyes, began fading with time.

He was sick. Unwell. Deranged. _Dead_.

He was technically still young, good looking and if he could find the effort or will in him - powerful.

But he was just a shell of what used to be, what he could have been, could have had.

His memory was weak and fading. Whenever he woke up from the little restless sleep he would force himself into it was as if Sasuke had lost another part of himself.

Of the trio who had helped then left him.

His own 'loving' brother. His family - what would his parents think of him now?

The vile snake and his right-hand psycho.

The teacher who had taught him the most important lessons in his life.

That courageous idiotic boy he once called his best friend. The one who had long surpassed him (as a ninja and as a person).

_The girl he had _wanted_ to protect._

...

Alcohol seemed like a good escape at times. Although the pain would always be worse in he morning, just a few hours (depending on how long he lasted) without the suffering was…nice? He was unsure how to put it. Then again, he wasn't sure of much anymore.

Although he was very sure that on that rainy night in small town, in a small smoky almost empty bar, still obviously sober, he was hallucinating.

Sometimes, thinking back, he wished he was. But the majority of his sanity and all of the messed up part of him was glad he wasn't.

She hadn't noticed him. Apart of him wanted to keep it that way, run before she spotted him staring at her out of the corner of his eyes.

Her hair was still short, but longer than what his memory could recall. Her eyes still the same bright green. Only they were tinted with concentration and seriousness that didn't fit.

She had grown taller, but was still petite, fragile and _breakable_. (She had also grown in other places - freaking alcohol was supposed to get rid of everything not the bloody opposite!) And the small tip of the tattoo on her upper arm peaking out of her sleeve, engraved into her smooth pale flesh, could only mean one thing, he wasn't _that _stupid these days.

Sasuke watched her sit down a few stools down from him. The bartender gave her a smile, eyeing her up and down - a look that made him down the rest of his glass as quickly as possible - before she said the name of a peculiar drink, causing the man's smile to drop as he disappeared under the bar.

Sasuke watched her playfully kick her legs back and forth like a child as her eyes scanned the room. For a split second she met his gaze. If not for his deteriorating vision, he would have sworn her eyes widened in recognition just as the barman resurfaced and placed a small glass and an envelope in front of her.

She carelessly stuffed the package into her bag and knocked down the shot, cringing at the taste, before he could blink.

His mind was far rational these days.

So he blamed his unstable health as the reason why he got up and slid silently into the seat next to his former team mate, ordering a round for them on him.

Sakura looked up into dark onyx depths with confused, fragile and bright green eyes.

He smirked down at her.

"Sasuke-kun?"

_And so began their deadly affair. _

* * *

_Look for the girl with the broken smile  
Ask her if she wants to stay awhile_

* * *

Konoha ninja worked in teams, rarely as individuals, he remembered. So he knew that the rest of her ANBU squad, apparently made up of Shikamaru, Lee and Hinata (not that he remembered who they were) could not have been too far off.

Not that he cared.

He wasn't sure why all of a sudden she was all that mattered.

Her _skin_ against his, his _lips_ on hers, their _hands_ intertwined.

They were alone, just the way he liked it, no one to disturb them, in the small inn where he had earlier booked a room for the night not to far from the bar.

Sasuke lost all sense of rationality when the door shut behind them and their lips met for the first time. Why he had done it, he didn't know, and was sure he never would.

But it didn't matter.

Because she was far more intoxicating than any amount of alcohol.

Sakura seemed to be in a rush, whispering about her mission and team mates, as she ran her bare hands up his neck and her fingers tangled in his raven hair.

He, on the other hand, felt the need to take things slow, to imbed every inch of her into his mind. He tried as hard as possible to be soft and gentle while trying to satisfy her and give her what she wanted.

And he tried not to lose himself to lust when they would break apart slightly for oxygen as he stared at her eyes.

It took all in him to hold back

Because the Sakura he knew was just so damn _breakable_.

And always would be.

* * *

_I know that goodbye means nothing at all  
Comes back and begs me to catch her every time she falls_

* * *

Somehow, they always found each other when she left the village. A "gut instinct" she called it once. But he was hypnotised by the laughter that followed.

Somehow, he knew when she wanted sex and when she wanted them to _make love_. (She taught him the difference between them).

They never slept together every time they saw each other.

Sometimes, he would hold her close to him when she silently cried. Yet he never promised her that everything would be okay. He couldn't bring himself to lie to her. Never could.

Sometimes, he'd tell her he needed her when he wanted her to heal him. And she did. And all the pain went away.

But he hated the risk and the danger that could rip them apart at any time.

...

She was sure that her team mates suspected something was going on with her and could tell the genjutsu she set when she left them was just an illusion.

Sakura never failed to notice the Hokage's sympathetic and worried looks when he sent her out. They must have said something to him. Besides, Hinata could never keep anything from her husband.

* * *

_My heart is full and my door's always open  
You can come anytime you want_

* * *

When she told him she loved him, one night, he couldn't look at her.

_Because he knew he loved her too. _

But bad things happened to the people he loved, and he didn't want to lose her too.

Sakura was far to easy to break. She wouldn't last long.

They sat in silence for a while after that before he brought his gaze up to her tear stained eyes and sad smile.

"I'm sorry," she choked quietly. "I…I-"

_Oh god help them both!_

He pulled her into his arms and buried his face into her neck.

"I love you too."

_

* * *

_

_I know I tend to get so insecure  
It doesn't matter anymore_

* * *

Apparently, Naruto thought that Sakura needed a change.

And so the idiot decided to give her a genin team.

Although it made it easier for Sasuke and her to be together, something didn't settle right.

While the kids themselves were nice enough, too many bad memories had control over her. Each had their own individual talents, but at first their teamwork sucked.

The pressure would get too much sometimes, so Sasuke would hold her and look after her and silentlytell her that she needed to be strong. Because she couldn't fail them and do her best to not let them fall apart and end up like Team 7.

* * *

_It's not always rainbows and butterflies  
It's compromise that moves us along_

* * *

He hated not having her all to himself.

Sasuke Uchiha did not share. Especially with the enemy (in his case, Konoha).

But that boy's future was now the past.

And the man left behind was just as fragile and broken as his lover.

* * *

_Tap on my window knock on my door  
I want to make you feel beautiful_

* * *

He always knew when she hid her true feelings, when she tried not to cry.

But on that night he made no sense of her mumblings as she let the tears fall as freely as the rain outside, soaking his shirt

Eventually he pulled away from her after stroking her hair and kissing her forehead. Sasuke tilted her chin up to meet his eye.

"I'm…I…" He'd never seen her so distressed, _so upset_.

"Sakura," he ordered.

"I'm getting married."

And what was left of his heart shattered.

* * *

_I don't mind spending everyday  
Out on your corner in the __**pouring rain**_

* * *

Supposedly, her parents were sick of her not getting anywhere towards her future and decided to take matters into their own hands and arranged for their only daughter to marry an old family friend, much to Sakura's displeasure.

But Sasuke held her closer and tighter than ever before, ignoring the thunder and rain hammering against the widow, listening to her begging him to help her, stay with her, _save her. _

_But he needed her more than she needed him, _even though he knew he did not deserve her, _without her he had nothing, _was nothing_. _

With her, he was no longer the sick man who lost everything and he didn't want to go back to that.

_And she didn't want to lose him again. _

* * *

_And she will be loved_

_

* * *

_

**What on earth can I say about that…**

**Review.**


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